The present invention relates to a switch mechanism for effecting time correction of an electronic timepiece.
Prior art electronic timepieces, particularly digital watches, typically use a switch(s) to enable the user of the watch to select the desired indicia, e.g., the unit minute or hours, to be adjusted and a second switch device to cause advancement of the indicated time at a predetermined rate. Other prior art timepieces accomplish time correction of the displayed information by rotation of the external operating means to a prescribed position which effects advancement of the selected indicia at a predetermined internal pulse rate with said switch being held in the prescribed position.
The disadvantage of these prior art mechanism are that the use of various push buttons and/or rotate switches for mode select and time correction functions can be confusing to the user. Secondly, the external means is turned to a prescribed angle necessitating extremely cumbersome multi-step operations. Thirdly, these devices enable time correction only by advancement of the displayed time. Further disadvantage involves possibility of undesired results from such operation, user confusion and the high cost of manufacture related with such complex mechanism.
A partial list of prior art patents of interest include U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,975,896 issued Aug. 24, 1976 to Noriyuki Kasama; 3,643,418 issued Feb. 22, 1972 to Herbert S. Polin et al; 4,031,341 issued June 21, 1977 to Paul Wuthrich; 3,418,800 issued Dec. 31, 1968 to Kiyoshi Hashii; 3,653,012 issued Jan. 18, 1972 to Raymond J. Grohoski and British Specification No. 1,461,367 published Jan. 13, 1977 in the name of Kabushiki Kaisha Suwa Seikosha. These prior art patents are merely typical of the art and not in any way intended to be an all inclusive list of pertinent piror art.
In contrast to the prior art, the present invention provides a switch mechanism which enables the user to correct the time being displayed in a forward and backward direction by rotation of the crown in a clockwise and counterclockwise direction, respectively, is adapted for ease of use by the wearer of the watch, involves a minimum of associated parts and enables improved manual control of the rate of time correction with fast or slow rotational manipulation of the crown mechanism.